


A Hero's Heart

by bardy_boi (clockworkgirl221)



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Calamity Vaati?, Childhood Friends, Cooking, Everybody Lives, Except Those Pesky Original Characters, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Gerudo Outfit, Good Ganondorf, Half-Hylian Ganondorf, M/M, Minor Character Death, Original Character Death(s), This was all Vaati's Fault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 11:27:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16218074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clockworkgirl221/pseuds/bardy_boi
Summary: Ganondorf was Link’s dearest childhood friend when they were growing up in the sleepy village of Hateno. They went through the knight’s school together, and even went to try to pull the Master Sword out together from the Lost Woods. But then the Calamity broke through the tomb in Hyrule Castle, and Ganondorf was taken by the wind mage Vaati.So what must the new Hero of Hyrule do to save his dear friend?Breath of the Wild rewritten and reworked to support Ganondorf as a good guy, and all the Champions alive and well.





	1. You Are Not Alone

“Look into my eyes   
All eternity you will find   
In this fragile heart,   
know that you will always belong   
Shout into the night   
Show the darkness that you will fight   
Hopeless you may feel,   
but inside I know you are strong…”

-Erutan,  _ You’re Not Alone _

_ \-- _

Ganondorf’s mother hailed from the Gerudo desert, where she had packed up as soon as she was 17 and started roaming across the length and breadth of Hyrule. She wanted adventure, or a husband, or to just get away from her mother and younger sisters. She wasn’t a woman to be put in a cage or on display.

His father was a farmer from good old Hateno village, and she had fallen in love not just with his eyes and face and charm, but for the sleepy little village, too. It was cool and quiet, and though it wasn’t quite adventurous to settle down and start a family, it was just enough to bring the fiery red-haired Gerudo vai joy. Especially when her son was born.

Ganondorf. Maybe it was an echo of a name long past. It was not an evil name, or even a misunderstood name. It denoted strength and power, and it was perfect for the little red-haired boy. Especially when his mother died a few years later, and only little Ganondorf’s strength seemed to pick his melancholic father up and make him work to feed the little boy until he could grow up and help himself.

\--

Link’s father just up and left one day, in the night. His mother’s intense sadness traumatized the poor child so much that he stopped speaking completely, even in school. He wanted to be just like his father up until then, a royal knight, bold and loud. But now, he wasn’t so sure.

Link met Ganondorf in the small school that Hateno kept up. Link was shy and was a loner for the first part of the school year, but Ganondorf liked his quiet nature and often sat with him even when the blond boy was just drawing pictures of horses. Link struggled through school because he refused to speak, and Ganondorf made it his mission in life to make sure the boy was understood.

Link’s first words in a long while were in reference to Ganondorf, when the boys were nine years old, and they were exploring just outside the village: they were chasing each other up the hill and back, catching crickets and watching them jump off their hands into the grass. Ganondorf liked seeing the usually serious boy smile and laugh when the creatures surprised him by jumping high, almost into his face.

Ganondorf was always dashing ahead, and Link was always following. But the redhead liked watching Link so much, and because he wasn’t looking where he was going, he slipped on a slick rock overlooking the village. Link caught sight of this out of the corner of his eye, and jumped to save his friend.

He yelled Ganondorf’s name.

Or tried to. His voice had been unused now for four years, so it was raspy, and Ganondorf couldn’t hear it over the wind. But Link had spoken, and Ganondorf wanted so much to hear his voice again and again and again.

Link grasped the other boy’s arm before he could fall, and sobbed into Ganondorf’s jacket for an hour afterwards, quiet sobs, but he muttered under his breath all the same.

“Link.”

Silence again.

“Link?”

More silence, but the young blond was blinking up at Ganondorf from under long lashes.

“It was really nice to hear your voice,” Ganondorf told the other boy, smiling warmly like the deserts where his mother had once called home. “Can I hear it a little more? And I bet your mother would love to hear your voice again too…” Ganondorf would have loved to be greedy, but it just wouldn’t do here and now.

Link was just about to nod, but at the comment about his mother, he instead shook his head. Ganondorf crooked his head like a confused dog, and Link almost wished the other boy had a tail too.

Although... Ganondorf kept his hair long and up in a high ponytail even in his youth, and the ponytail made Link think of the bushy-tailed dogs that hung around Ganondorf’s farm. At a time when Link was still wrassled into getting his cut--like his father’s, Link would rather be able to grow his hair out long like the half-Gerudo’s. And Link wondered why he had to look like the man who had left their family.

“No?” Ganondorf asked. “But I want to hear your voice again!”

Link shook his head again, putting his hands out as if he was placating a frightened cat, which Link actually did a lot of: he liked animals, and would even wander off when he was playing with Ganondorf to pet the dogs and cats in the village if they were outside.

Link swallowed heavily, “I look... too much like... my daddy, already,” he managed after a minute. “He was… loud. And I’m afraid if I speak… too much… then I’ll become more like him… and leave Mommy forever… like he did.”

Ganondorf was taken aback. Link had struggled with the words, and he stopped talking altogether soon after telling Ganondorf what was on his mind, but Ganondorf smiled. “Nonsense. You’re mild and kind, and you’re braver than he ever was. But if I get your voice all to myself, so be it,” he ended by shrugging.

But Link soon after started talking to his mother, too. But he was still the quiet one at home and in class. It was just that Ganondorf knew his true voice, and heard it more and more often, even if Link only used one word answers. It was enough for Ganondorf to make the blond boy laugh, and utter excited words, and encourage Ganondorf in his quiet way.

\--

Link’s mother stopped making him cut his hair. The redhead noticed his friend’s longer hair when Link came by with some baked apples.

“I asked mommy... to teach me how to... bake this,” he said quietly, preening when Ganondorf moaned into his first bite of the simple, cinnamon smelling treat.

Ganondorf looked over at his friend and saw the blond look out under his lengthening bangs. He tugged on one of locks toward the back. “This is new.”

Link nodded, absentmindedly moving a forelock behind his pale pointed ear, “Yeah…” he smiled, “I feel better talking to her... and telling her... what I want.”

The blond didn’t mention that it was all because of Ganondorf that he could speak at all, but the half-Gerudo boy still smiled a bit smugly as he finished the other boy’s first cooking masterpiece.

\--

Ganondorf wanted to be a royal knight. He thought that the simple life in Hateno village was what had killed his mother, so he decided to get as far away as he could.

Link didn’t want anything to do with the royal guard because his father had been part of that life, and he was long gone. He didn’t want to be like his father.

But he did want to be with Ganondorf, and his mother just told him to write her every week. So both boys signed up, and they went through training together at Hyrule Castle. Ganondorf was mischievous and full of energy. He excelled at drills and balked at etiquette. Link was a well-rounded student, excelling in all things, especially cavalry drills.

They were still inseparable.

At the end of their training, the King himself selected the best students to go into the Hyrule Forest to the Lost Woods, where the students would line up and try to pull the Master Sword from the stone under the ancient Deku Tree. If the sword or the tree spoke to one of them, then that Hero would go on a tour through Hyrule, conquering the glowing shrines that dotted the landscapes.

Both Link and Ganondorf were chosen.

And as soon as Link touched the Master Sword, the sword spoke in a high, feminine tone: “My... master…?”

And then the Calamity burst forth from Hyrule Castle.

\--

Hyrule Castle held a dark secret underneath: the wind demon Vaati had been sealed away by a Hero of legend, with the help of the Goddess Hylia. There was a prophecy unearthed by archeologists that told of Vaati’s return.

In response, the King, with the Sheikah, began unearthing ancient technology, including the shrines that the new Hero would undoubtedly be journeying to and completing one by one. Also unearthed were four great machines called the Divine Beasts. Princess Zelda herself was appointed to help new pilots get the great machines up and running, and thankfully she had been in the Gerudo Desert with Urbosa, the Champion of Vah Naboris, the great camel, when the Calamity burst forth.

The Hero trials had begun at about the time that the Beasts and the shrines were unearthed as well, with the first of the elite guard going with the King himself to the Woods to try to pull the Master Sword, the sword from the legend, out of the stone, to hear the voice of the sword’s guardians. None had passed the very first trial, and so the shrines dotting Hyrule remained asleep. They would remain asleep a few years, until Link pulled the Sword from the stone, under the gaze of the still silent Deku Tree.

\--

Vaati’s power had been sleeping for a very long time, and though he tried to take control of the ancient technology surrounding the castle when he finally awoke, the King knew that Link would be their Champion, and would be able to seal Vaati away for another 10,000 years.

The small party from the Hyrule Forest joined the fray in Castle Town, but Vaati’s wind was too much for anyone to get in the castle. Ganondorf fought hard, for instead of being jealous of Link’s new role as the Hero, he wanted only to help his friend, as he had in the past, back in Hateno, and then through the Knight’s training.

He and Link tried their hardest to get into the castle, and, with Ganondorf’s bulky frame, they were able to get passed the great wind at the entrance and journey inwards toward the basement where Vaati’s tomb had been.

Ganondorf stepped into the great room first. And was captured by Vaati himself in a great whirlwind. Vaati must have sensed the strength in the half-Gerudo boy, and the bond he had with the new Hero, whom the tainted mage despised from the past he shared with Link’s predecessor.

“Ganondorf!” Link cried, and in his mind flashed the fateful day that Ganondorf had slipped and nearly fell head first off the cliff above Hateno village.

Link tried to save his friend, but Vaati managed a great burst of wind, and blew Link through the air and all the way outside. Link passed out from the landing, and was gathered up by Mipha, the Champion of Vah Ruta, the great elephant.

\--

The entire group of citizens, Knights, Champions and royalty had to retreat. If the Hero was out, then there was nothing anyone could do. They regrouped in Hateno Village, at the lab of Purah, who was one of the heads of the excavation of all the shrines and the Divine Beasts.

Mipha healed Link to the best of her ability, and he awoke with a start, screaming for his friend. It took all the Champions and Princess Zelda to calm him down and tell him what they thought had happened to his friend.

The newest Champion wanted to go get his captured friend right away, but Daruk, Champion of Vah Rudania, the great lizard, pinned him to the bed while Princess Zelda soothed him and told him that the Divine Beasts were there to help him seal away Vaati once more.

“They will contain his power, then you and I can go in to the castle proper. The Master Sword will help you to defeat him, and I will be able to seal him away,” she said. “But I have not completed my training, and you must prove yourself to the sword by going through 120 shrines across the land. Then the sword will have all the spiritual power it needs to defeat Vaati’s great magic. In the meantime, the Champions will master their Beasts to help us get in to the Castle, and then to guard us until we come out. Vaati will be gathering allies to him, so we must all be wary…”

She saw the pain on Link’s face, and the hardened lines on her face softened, “This is the only way to save your… Ganondorf.”

Link tried to say something, anything, but the words caught in his throat. So he only nodded, looking up into the faces of the Champions: He didn’t trust these people quite yet, and so could not speak to them. He once more wished that Ganondorf was at his side, at least to translate. But perhaps he would come to trust his fellow Champions as he restored the Master Sword to full power, so that he could save his dearest friend.


	2. To The Ends of the Earth

“So follow me  
To the ends of the earth  
Now take a minute  
And revel in it  
And see how much you're worth  
I'll fight and defend  
I'll see this the out 'till end  
So follow me  
To the ends of the earth…”  
-NateWantsToBattle, _To The Ends of the Earth_

\--

Mipha was the first to master her Divine Beast. She left it at the East Reservoir above her home, and she and her little brother Sidon helped Link to find all of the shrines around Mount Lanayru and Necluda. The King of Hyrule, without a castle, joined his daughter on her trek to pray at each of the three Goddess springs of Courage, Power, and Wisdom and offer the scale of each of Hyrule’s great dragons at the statue’s feet. The King of Hyrule had also commissioned a craftsperson in Hateno village to issue the Champions and Zelda (par the Rito Champion, who could fly on his own, and Daruk, who was just too big) to build them each a paraglider to help them fly over long distances and through the mountains on their journeys.

Little Prince Sidon liked when Link took out his Ocarina at night to play, and would clap wildly until his sister shushed him gently, and told him to stay quiet while the Hero played. The Zora boy also ran and hugged the Hero when he exited each shrine they had found. The little prince even cried when Link waved goodbye to the two royal Zora siblings and went on his way to the Eldin region. Mipha noticed that Link’s time with the royal Zora siblings was a time where the Hylian boy finally smiled after all that had happened to him and to his dear childhood friend.

Daruk was having trouble mastering his Divine Beast, so Zelda and her father took a break from her traveling to help him out, much to the King’s chagrin. But it wouldn’t for the King do to strain his daughter, especially out there in the wilds, and also since the Goddess Hylia seemed to be smiling down on the poor, motherless girl. It helped that the Champions had the Princess’s back about her general health and wellbeing, and because these were so well regarded, the Princess’s power was coming naturally for her, despite her mother not being there to teach her properly.

Princess Mipha had gotten to Princess Zelda before the Hylian Princess got to the Eldin Region, and told her to try and get Link to come out of his shell while the two Hylians were in the region together. Zelda, her father, and Link stayed at a stable far to the south of the volcano, where it was only a little warm, and not so hot that the Hero would burst into flames. They waited for Daruk to come down with flame-proof garments for Link, as the Princess had received hers when the Divine Beast was first dug up.

Mipha told Zelda to ask Link what food he would inevitable prepare at the stables at mealtimes, to get the boy to warm up to her. He apparently loved to cook, as his mother had taught him various meals and that made him feel close to her even if he was far away. Learning new recipes also kept his mind off of everything that had happened to him or was happening, the Zora Princess said.

So Zelda had approached the boy at a cooking pot, and watched him put meat and vegetables together with spices, and after partaking in the meal with him, praising the Hylian Champion’s skill, she sat next to the Hero one night as he watched the sky. She had been wary of the Hero back in Hateno, especially since it was seemingly the voice of the Master Sword that had unleashed the Calamity which had taken over her Castle. But because the two of them would need to work together, she heeded her fellow Princess’s advice as she tried her best to get to know the sad-eyed boy who had taken up the mantle of the fifth Champion to save his friend.

She handed him a hand-written recipe to start. “Mipha told me that you probably didn’t have this recipe in your collection,” she said, when the blue-eyed Champion had raised his eyebrow at her.

Link read it over, a smile forming. It was for Zelda’s favorite fruitcake. She had found the recipe herself and had hand-written the recipe in her scholarly cursive. Link nodded to her: his mother was a meat-and-vegetables type of woman, though they sometimes could find and afford fruit at the market, and Ganondorf had brought fresh apples and other fruit from his farm when the boys were younger.

Zelda’s confidence grew, and she smiled back. But after reading the recipe, Link fell back into his melancholy, his blue eyes far away, traversing the past where Ganondorf ran into his house carrying melons and wildberries. Zelda somehow knew where Link’s mind was, and she looked into the fire before speaking again to him.

“You loved your Ganondorf a lot, didn’t you?” Zelda asked, wrapping her arms around her knees. “He’s… half Gerudo? Perhaps Lady Urbosa knew his… mother? Yes… it would be the mother, wouldn’t it. The Gerudo don’t usually birth boys… and the birth of one would put the mother’s health in jeopardy, the poor boy…” She tended to ramble a lot: she fancied herself a scholar as well as a Goddess-blooded Princess.

Link listened quietly, but didn’t even look at her. Yes, he loved Ganondorf. They had been best friends since they were kids. Ganondorf was his rock, his light, the one person he trusted with his life, after his mother.

Link tried to remember his face, and started sobbing when all he really remembered was Ganondorf’s red hair, like a flame raging across the desert.

Zelda awkwardly placed her arms around the shuddering boy. “Oh, Link, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought him up…”

Link shook his head, and looked up at her. They would be partners in this rescue mission. She was ready to risk her life to save her land, and he… well, he wanted Ganondorf back of course, but… he wanted Hyrule to be safe for the both of them… at least for the rest of their lifetime.

“I…” he whispered. Zelda had to lean in a bit more to hear him: “I’ve forgotten his face…”

Zelda held him tighter. Then she felt something pressing against her leg: the Sheikah Slate she had given him. She gasped, and pulled away from Link, who looked at her with surprised and strained blue eyes. She pointed at his hip. “Can I see that for a second?”

Link handed it to her. It was hers to begin with, even though it was the key to getting into the shrines, and it helped him with abilities such as magnetize and cryonis, which he had learned on the Great Plateau before he had moved on to the Dueling Peaks and the area around his home.

The Princess opened up the photo album in the Slate and sifted through the photos she had taken, as tests. “Oh good, you didn’t delete them.”

He hadn’t even found the pictures himself, actually.

She gasped and giggled when she found what she was looking for. “Remember that day I waved this in your face when you were eating with Ganondorf? Well, you’re stuffing your face here but, with a little enhancement here, and some cropping there…” She grinned, showing Link the newly enhanced photo. “Here. You’ll remember his face a bit easier now.”

Link took the Slate from Zelda and held it close, squinting as he looked at Ganondorf’s handsome face: his tanned skin, his golden eyes, the grin as he geared up to laugh at something someone else had said. Link saw his own arm peeking from under Ganondorf’s, but he didn’t care if Zelda had cropped him out.

“Thank you…” he managed to whisper, looking at Zelda with a smile.

She was taken aback by that smile, and it was then she knew. The love Link had for Ganondorf was deeper than that of two childhood friends. It was true love. The love that her own father and mother had possessed when the Queen was still alive, and possibly even now, with her death, at least on her father’s side.

“I have a locket with my mother’s painting in it,” she said with a small smile. “If I didn’t have it, I could look at any of the pictures in the great hall at home… but out here, now the castle is in Vaati’s clutches, it helps to have it with me. Without it, I fear I would forget her face. And that would be devastating,” she nodded. “You have friends out here, Link. And we’ll all look out for you and for each other. I hope you know that.”

Link looked up from the picture of Ganondorf and crooked his head, his eyebrows knitting together. He nodded slowly, and put his hand over Zelda’s. Zelda smiled back, “As long as you know.”

\--

Daruk finally got away from his own training to travel around the Eldin region with Link as the Hero looked for the shrines, when the Princess went back to her own training with her father. The two Champions parted ways at once the lava pits of Death Mountain gave way to snow and ice in deep friendship and a brotherly bond.

Link moved slowly through the other regions, and stopped in the Tabantha region just as Princess Zelda and her father passed through. The Rito Champion Revali, of Vah Medoh, the great eagle, just barely tolerated Link’s presence, so it was Zelda who traveled with Link through the Tabantha and most of the Hebra region moving through the shrines one by one.

The two parted in the Gerudo Highlands, where Link traveled alone on his quest to conquer the shrines, until he got to the Gerudo desert. He paused a while at the Kara Kara Bazaar, remembering Ganondorf’s father talking about the boy’s mother and her journeys. She had set off from Gerudo Town, where her mother and sisters lived.

If Ganondorf couldn’t explore his mother’s homeland just yet, Link would at least get a head start for them when he finally rescued Ganondorf and they had some time off in which to spend together. Link had a lot to show Ganondorf when they reunited.

So Link set off for Gerudo Town.

At the gate, when he was denied entry for being a voe, for being a boy (though they teased he was as pretty as a vai, as a maiden). He then asked for Lady Urbosa. She came out to meet him, and, mischievous as she was, let him into the town on one condition, “It’s a town only for vai, for women, little Hero.”

She dressed him in the finest blue silk, telling him the outfit suited him. The outfit showed a lot of skin, but it was comfortable enough in the desert heat. He was shy, but as he passed as a female, Lady Urbosa let him in, giggling to herself the whole way. She allowed him to explore the Town in his feminine garbs, and after dinner that night, asked again why he had come.

“It can’t have been just to visit me. You would have turned back for the Bazaar when you heard my request,” she asked, her deep eyes narrowing.

He wasn’t used to the woman quite yet, so instead of answering her verbally, he showed her the picture of Ganondorf.

She was silent for a very long time. “He looks so much like my oldest sister…” she finally said, handing the Slate back. “He was the one you were screaming for back in Hateno village?”

Link nodded. He scratched out Ganondorf’s mother’s name onto his diary and showed it to her.

“Aye, that was my sister’s name,” Urbosa replied, laughing sadly. “So she is dead?”

Link nodded.

“And your Ganondorf is her son?” the Chief asked.

Link nodded again.

She sighed, looking up out the window into the desert night. “Then he is the son of the true Chief of the Gerudo. It should be him piloting that Divine Beast…” Then she turned her saddened eyes to Link once more, and grinned, her eyes sparkling in their mischievous way again as she added, “You would be the husband of true nobility, second only to the King and Queen of Hyrule… and first in the Gerudo Desert.”

This confused the boy, which made Urbosa laugh. “The way you look at his picture, my friend. I have seen that look many times in my lifetime. You are in love with that boy. And your valor in finding these shrines so that you can save him? That doesn’t mean true love, boy, but it’s certainly a fine indicator of something deeper than just friendship.”

Link kept the vai clothes, deep in his pack, as he toured the desert with Lady Urbosa herself, looking for the shrines to power his sword. And at the end of their journey together, he flushed when Urbosa gifted him a small journal filled with recipes of the Gerudo people. He recognized Ganondorf’s favorite meal in it almost immediately as he flipped through the pages: it was the only thing the half-Gerudo boy had managed to keep after his father purged the house of every remnant of his sweet mother.

Link pointed to it excitedly, and Lady Urbosa laughed “What? That?”

She read it over, and smiled, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, Link,” she said. “And a boy who has lost his mother will always be happy to remember her.”

\--

He ended his year-long tour in the Akkala region, once more alone. With all 120 shrines done, he rendezvoused with the Champions and Princess Zelda at Kakariko Village, and the Princess handed him a blue tunic that matched the sashes and capes that the other four were wearing. Then she disappeared to change herself.

Curiously, she had been wearing a strange blue dress, with silver armor plates. She had blushed when Link had pointed his eyes at it, raising his eyebrows as he looked then at her face for some confirmation. But she said nothing about it.

Soon clothed in a white dress, the triforce about her neck, she emerged once more, and took his hand. “It’s time.”

\--

The Divine Beasts pointed their lasers straight at the castle from high peaks surrounding the great grey castle. Zelda fretted over the Champions as she and Link rode their way to the abandoned Castle Town, where a giant column of wind roared. A wall of wind surrounded the castle on all sides, but the lasers from the Beast shot straight through and made holes in the walls wide enough for two people to enter from any of the four corners the Beasts opened up.

The Divine Beasts also cut off communication between Vaati and his army of monsters camped out around the castle, as the monsters were soon running toward one of the four ancient machines and were too far away even to hear Vaati’s voice in their heads. Zelda and Link jumped off their horses in the night and snuck passed the remaining of the sleeping hoards into the ruins of Castle Town.

Link’s heart beat faster as he rushed the twister, and the now glowing Master Sword slashed through it, making it disappear with a pop. He and Princess Zelda pushed through to the castle. Zelda took the lead, since she knew the castle inside and out, and Link followed close behind, his eyes peeled for any signs of Ganondorf, or Vaati himself.

His heart cracked when a great beast suddenly stood in their way. He was boar-like, dark skinned with a red mane and red hair coming from his curly tail. His eyes were golden, and they seemed sad. Vaati’s voice cackled from behind the creature, “Don’t you recognize your friend, Hero?”

Link did. He looked to Zelda and knew: He had to kill the beast. He had to kill his friend.

He stepped in front of the Princess to do just that, but Zelda lowered his sword. “No,” she said. “You’ve has suffered enough, Link.”

She closed her eyes, and a burst of light came from her hand. The beast roared with pain, and Link was very alarmed, but Zelda held on to his arm to keep him from running to the great boar. Finally, the light faded, and the beast was no more. In his place, Ganondorf’s weak form collapsed. Zelda released Link, and he ran to his old friend.

Ganondorf smiled when he recognized his silent Hero, “I’m glad you finally made it,” he said before his eyes fell shut.

Zelda watched with a watery smile. “He’s alive, Link. We’ll have to leave him, but once Vaati is sealed, the castle will be ours again. He’ll be fine. Vaati only has eyes for us now.”

They ran to the basement, where Vaati was indeed waiting. The plan had worked. After an entire year of traveling, Link had been able to fulfil his duty: Vaati was weak, and the Hero was able to sap the rest of the once-powerful wind mage’s strength as Zelda’s power recharged.

Link watched with a small smile as Princess Zelda sealed Vaati away for another 10,000 years.


	3. EPILOGUE: Something Wild (Called You Home)

“If you're lost out where the lights are blinding  
Caught in all, the stars are hiding  
That's when something wild calls you home,  
If you face the fear that keeps you frozen  
Chase the sky into the ocean  
That's when something wild calls you home,”  
-Lindsey Stirling feat. Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, _Something Wild_

\--

“Ten thousand years ago...” Impa explained, as she and Link watched Ganondorf sleep.

The red-haired man twitched and murmured in his sleep, replaying all that had happened to him trapped in Hyrule Castle for that long, painful year. He still refused to tell anyone anything about it, but Zelda stopped asking about his time with Vaati, with hope in her eyes that one day he could tell her what happened… so that it would never happen again.

“Ten thousand years ago, Vaati was a forest spirit, a distant cousin of the Koroks,” Impa said. She was about Link’s age, but she paused and stuttered, sometimes a shy young leaf and sometimes the oldest oak tree.

“But he craved power, and soon found the tomb of an ancient, sleeping evil that the Goddess Hylia and the very first Hero sealed away. He awakened it, as the Goddess foretold. And the demon king Demise twisted him and his lust for power, combining with him to create the Calamity. But the Goddess had entrusted the Sheikah with her bloodline, and the Hero had been entrusted with the Master Sword, although the sword and the spirit of Demise were linked.

“Vaati unleashed the evil spirit into the world 10,000 years ago from the place where it rested under the castle. My people had already built the Divine Beasts and the shrines as toys, mostly. But the Goddess had other plans for them, and bid the Princess back then to use them to get passed Vaati’s magic, which had twisted thanks to Demise’s great power and hatred.

“A Hero pulled the Master Sword out of its pedestal, and the Princess, already trained, went with him to seal the Calamity away again. The Divine Beasts, of course, helped,” the Sheikah woman opened one eye to look at Link.

The Hero was staring at Ganondorf’s face, his hands clenched at his side on the other man’s comforter.

“Vaati hates the Hero and the Princess very much, in every incarnation…” Impa said after a long while. “And Demise can transform a gentle soul into a monster. That is why your young man there had to suffer.”

So it’s my fault, Link thought, and then promptly pushed that thought away. No. It was Vaati’s fault, for awakening and merging with an evil spirit. He was gone now, for the rest of Link and Ganondorf’s lifetime, at least.

Link pushed a lock of hair from Ganondorf’s face. It had fallen out of it’s ponytail when the half-Gerudo had transformed into his beastly form.

“But the Gerudo boy was true to you, Link,” Impa said as an afterthought. “Demise could have possessed him if Ganondorf thirsted for power like Vaati had. Instead, the mage had to turn Ganondorf into a baser animal, with no human morals. All he needed was a little healing magic to bring him back…”

Link wondered what Impa was trying to say before he gave up and left the room to find something to eat.

Impa only chuckled from her seat in the corner.

—

Before Zelda left Kakariko to make preparations for a grand celebration in Hyrule Castle, she looked for Link to say goodbye before she left for Castle Town. All of the Champions had been home in their own villages for a time once the Calamity was sealed away, except for Mipha, who tended the wounded, and Zelda, who tended Link and Ganondorf.

She found him in the kitchen, where it smelled of spices, fruit, and something a bit electric. He was wearing a very fetching blue apron to protect his cotton shirt and trousers.

“Playing house?” Zelda asked with a teasing lilt to her voice.

Link glanced at her, then pushed a spoon filled with a fruity mush into her face.

She laughed, but allowed the Champion to let her taste some of the warm concoction. “Mm!” she managed, eyes widening slightly.

Link nodded, a little smug, as he continued stirring at his dish. Zelda looked over at the recipe he was making and nodded to it.

“Lady Urbosa’s recipe book?” She asked.

Link nodded.

“You certainly would have Lady Urbosa’s blessing… those crates from Gerudo Town were for you!” she pointed accusingly at Link before: “Wait… is that… your first time cooking that?”

Link paused, and then nodded. “Ganondorf made it every year... on his mother’s birthday.”

Zelda nodded, grinning. “He’s awake more and more often now.”

Link knew it wasn’t a question, yet he nodded anyway.

“What a sweet little house husband you’ll be,” she teased.

Link stared at her. She knew that her father wanted him and Ganondorf for her personal guard. He wouldn’t have time to play house husband and Zelda knew full well. She shrugged.

“We’re at peace now, Link,” she said, “Relax. Now, give me a hug. I’m off to the castle for a few weeks, and I’ll send for you and Ganondorf once Mipha comes to the castle and tell me he’s doing well enough to travel. But I will miss you very much in the meantime…”

Link hugged her, still wearing his apron. “I’ll miss you too,” he whispered into her hair.

—

Link showed the vai outfit to Ganondorf a few days after Zelda and then Mipha left Kakariko for the castle. Ganondorf was sitting up, waiting for a servant to fetch them both back for the grand feast. Zelda had of course left a couple weeks before, and Mipha had felt ready to leave Link and Ganondorf for the castle only a few days ago, and Link had watched her go with some trepidation:

The two princesses were both hiding something. Link had seen Zelda collapse in Mipha’s embrace after the Zora Princess had seen to Ganondorf’s injuries after they had defeated the Calamity--there were no injuries, just exhaustion. But the Zora Princess was still the healer of the group, and she still watched over her patients with all the grace she had gathered in her many years of practice. The two Princesses, though, were deep in each other confidences, and Link had his theories as to why they might be so close… and he guessed it wasn’t just because they were both Princesses.

But tonight was about Ganondorf, and his rehabilitation back into the world. Vaati had turned him into a great beast, and Ganondorf had had nightmares about his year locked in the basement of Hyrule Castle with only the vile wind magician as his companion. And not once had he not resisted Vaati’s calling to the dark powers, except when they had turned him into a beast to somehow wipe his human resistance clean away...

“You wore that?” his friend asked when he saw the silky blue outfit, chuckling. Then he paused… “I want to see you in it. Did Lady Urbosa… uhh… my aunt take any pictures with that Sheikah Slate?”

Link blinked, “No… thankfully.”

“Not thankfully!” Ganondorf shouted, then quieted down some, looking at Link’s confused expression. “Sorry, uh…”

Link colored slightly. “Why… do you want to see me... in something like this?” he asked quietly, putting a lock of his hair behind his ear.

Ganondorf stared at his friend as he thought for a very long time, smiling slightly when he saw the signs of Link’s quiet shyness. Link allowed himself to hope.

“I think you looked cute in it,” Ganondorf finally replied, quietly. “Don’t ask me why.”

Link shook his head, “Why do you think... I’d look cute... in those clothes?”

Ganondorf slumped into the pile of pillows behind him. “You know, all I wanted to do was to help you. My heart sank when you nodded at the King when he asked if you had heard the sword. I… wanted things to be as they were. You’ve gone through so much, and here I am, the reason for all your hard work.”

Link waited, sitting down slowly, carefully, on the bed, watching Ganondorf with curiosity, and still with so much hope and love bubbling up inside of him.

Ganondorf pushed forward, golden eyes narrowing slightly. “He was horrible, Link,” he said, finally looking up at his oldest friend. The half-Gerudo’s heart jumped when he saw how Link’s face had softened, but he realized that most of Link’s soft gazes had always been toward him. “He used my… affection for you the whole time I was captive. I tried to be strong, and in the end… that got me transformed into a beast. I almost hurt you… but when the Princess used her power on me… I knew. I knew you couldn’t destroy me. And the whole world knew that except for me, and possibly you too. And when I saw you afterwards, and again when I woke up here… I realized what they knew was true.”

Link nodded for him to go on. Ganondorf licked his lips, and swallowed visibly. Link never looked away from his eyes. “I have been my very happiest with you. When you cooked for me here, after I first woke up: my favorite dish, Link! It made me realize that… I love you. Have been in love with you since we were kids, I bet.”

Link smiled knowingly, taking up the vai outfit from where it was spread on the end of the bed. He stood up and went to the door. He turned, “I love you too, Ganondorf,” he said quietly, before he disappeared.

They kissed when Link returned next, dressed in full in the vai outfit of Ganondorf’s mother’s homeland (sans the veil, of course).

“You really do look quite cute,” Ganondorf mumbled into Link’s lips.

Link flushed violently, falling forward into his friend’s chest, which rumbled with silent laughter. “Sorry, my love,” Ganondorf managed after he had settled down, and Link managed to look up at him.

They both couldn’t wipe the happy smiles off their faces for days afterwards.

\--

Princess Zelda had booked Ganondorf and Link one lavish guest room within the walls of Hyrule Castle, and placed the two of them together at the table at the feast: both of them to her right, and the four other Champions on her left. Mipha was the closest one to her on the left, and Link was closest on her left.

The feast was wonderful, and of course the happy couple got asked tons of questions from the other Champions, especially Mipha and Urbosa. Urbosa, of course, asked when Ganondorf and Link planned on getting married, and Mipha blushed into her soup, for some odd reason. Link didn’t have the heart to narrow his eyes suspiciously at her, as he was too busy blushing into his own soup.

At the end of the night, the King congratulated them all for their hard work, dedication, and sacrifice in the defeat of the Calamity, and then Zelda dropped the bombshell:

“Princess Mipha and I will be knitting together the two great kingdoms of Zora’s Domain and Hyrule. She has given me her Zora’s armor as a betrothal gift, and I have accepted,” The Hylian Princess announced to her guests.

There were gasps and applause from all over the great hall, but no one clapped louder than the Champions and Ganondorf. Princess Zelda extended her hand to Princess Mipha, who took her hand gracefully. They smiled softly at one another, and Link felt a little guilty for being so suspicious of them before. The two princesses were in love, and they managed to keep their relationship a secret when Link couldn’t even keep his own feelings for the man sitting beside him to anyone but himself.

Urbosa raised her eyebrow at her nephew and the Hero, “Well, I suppose a double wedding is too much to ask for. You’re both off the hook… until Zelda and Mipha go off on their honeymoon, of course…”

Both Link and Ganondorf blushed, and tried to look anywhere but at Urbosa or each other.

END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously there aren’t shrines within Hyrule castle in this fic. I took loads of creative liberties in the writing, so stuff like the towers weren’t very necessary to the plot as they are to the game’s mechanics, either.
> 
> Also… this should have just been one big songfic in three parts, but my brain decided the plot was more important.
> 
> Thanks for making it to the end! Buh-bye!


End file.
